Dudley Spade

Dudley Spade is the Chief of Staff for Starr Commonwealth. He is responsible for overseeing a the Advancement team, as well as working with the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Operating Officer on Starr's budget and business plan.

Prior to coming to Starr, Dudley Spade served as a State Representative for 57th District from January 2005 to December 2010. During his tenor as a state representative he served as the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Human Services (DHS) and he oversaw their $7 billion budget to fund public assistance and service programs including temporary assistance for needy families, child welfare, juvenile justice, state disability assistance, child day care and food stamps. Representative Spade also served as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Procurement Reform and was the Former Chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR).

After graduating from Eastern Michigan University in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, he began working at Boysville of Michigan, a large child caring institution now known as Holy Cross Children’s Services where he worked for 17 years as a Controller. He then served 9 years as a Controller and Director of Information Technology at Starr Commonwealth.

He is an accomplished leader with 32 years of continuous advancement as a child advocate in both the government and nonprofit charitable sector who possesses a keen understanding of the roles of state and local government, private for-profit and the nonprofit charitable sectors and how collaboration and integration can foster large-scale system reform. He has developed a number of reforms and initiatives to help streamline government and reinvent Michigan.

For two consecutive years, Mr. Spade was named Legislator of the Year and has received numerous awards for his efforts to champion for children and make Michigan a better place for all citizens.

Mr. Spade resides in Tipton, Michigan with his wife of 25 years Nancy and they have three children Kyle, Sarah and Katie.

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